A courageous, sexual abuse survivor has spoken out about her ordeal as her former teacher was jailed for up to 20 years.

Jaime Heiner, who is now 18, was groomed for sex by Stephen Niedzwiecki at the age of 14 while she attended Kaysville charter school in Utah. She told the court on Thursday at his sentencing that she feared she would see her abuser's face on her wedding night.

Niedzwiecki, then 31, was a teacher and the girls' basketball coach when he began the inappropriate relationship with Miss Heiner. The abuse lasted for more than a year.

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Jaime Heiner, now 18, spoke outside court on Thursday after the teacher who sexually abused her was sent to prison for up to 20 years

The 18-year-old bravely stood up in court on Thursday to face her attacker. She testified that she is haunted by the abuse and at one time, slept on her parents' bedroom floor because she was too afraid to be on her own.

'I fear that I will see Mr. Niedzwiecki’s face on my wedding night,' she said, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

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The ex-teacher was sentenced on Thursday
after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual activity and conduct with a
minor female student.

He initially faced 11 charges but struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to four counts of unlawful sexual activity and unlawful sexual conduct. They were reduced from first to third-degree felonies as part of a plea deal.

Niedzwiecki groomed his teenage student for sex when she was 14

Jaime Heiner spoke out following the trial with the support of her parents.

Miss Heiner told Fox: 'When the judge read his finding, I started crying because I was so happy that justice was going to get served and that he couldn’t hurt any other young women.'

She added: 'I don’t consider myself a victim.

'I see myself as a survivor. Because victim is a word that gives him power over me, whereas survivor is a word that gives me that power.'

Miss Heiner spoke before the court at Niedzwiecki's sentencing where she asked the judge to make the sentence as harsh as possible.

She told the court: 'When he began to pursue me sexually I did not know how to respond to him and I froze.

'Over and over again I froze. I never physically fought back and often submitted to his demands, but that does not mean I was consenting.'

The judge sentenced Niedzwiecki to serve up to 20 years behind bars.

Judge Allphin told the court: 'He introduced her to sexual acts that she had never heard of, let alone experienced. He committed despicable acts.'

The brave teenager left court with her parents on Thursday. They supported her decision to reveal her identity following the sexual abuse by a teacher

The student met Niedzwiecki when she
was on the girl's basketball team. She had never had a boyfriend and
knew little about sex.

The relationship had been inappropriate from when the girl was a freshman, the court heard, before turning sexually abusive in summer 2011.

It took place outside of school grounds in a number of places like Niedzwiecki's home.

She said that her 31-year-old teacher's sexual advances caused her to freeze and she often submitted to demands.

Niedzwiecki
begged for mercy to the judge and apologized to Miss Heiner and her
family. He said that he was in therapy and had completed a repentance
process at his church.

He was taken to jail immediately after sentencing.

Convicted sex offender Stephen Niedzwiecki (center) pleaded for mercy in court on Thursday. The judge showed little and jailed him for up to 20 years